Soon, Rocky's body appeared in the arena, where the students were gathering around. All of them were chattering in good moods while discussing their beasts.
The beasts on their shoulders gave off different-colored auras. But none of them were black aura. Which meant this generation had huge talent in beast taming, unlike Rocky.
At some point, a student noticed his beast.
"Look at that! A beast with a black aura."
"Holy shit! What a pathetic talent. Guess he must be desperate to tame a beast from the black zone." A student shook his head in mockery and contempt.
"Based on its mana density, it's at the Calamity level?… That's even worse. A bizarre beast from the Black Zone—I'm sure no one has ever managed to raise it. Reaching its peak potential is almost impossible."
"From what my mother said, a beast from the black zone carries a curse for its tamer. A curse that makes them unlucky and brings all kinds of trouble."
"That's right. My grandfather once tamed a dog from the black zone… so do you know what happened to him?"
The student lowered his voice. "That hideous dog bit my grandfather's thing, leaving him powerless in bed with my grandmother. It's a terrifying story in my family."
Nearby, the principal, Tad Fisher, shook his head slightly in disappointment. He hadn't expected Rocky to choose a beast from the black zone, clearly unwilling to return without any beast at all.
"We should advise him to kill that beast. It'll only curse him," Misty, the principal's assistant, said firmly.
Tad sighed.
"It's useless. That boy is too stubborn. He already knows what kind of beast he has, so no matter what we say, he won't listen."
Misty glanced at Rocky with sympathy.
"A poor boy."
The principal nodded, then looked around before speaking up to the students.
"Now, we will begin the next stage… a duel among tamers. Whoever performs the best will receive a reward from the academy."
He glanced at his assistant, nodding as a gesture for her to proceed.
Three hours later.
The stands began to fill with students, from first-years to third-years. This was a ritual tradition of the academy for first-years after successfully taming their beasts.
Whoever won the competition would be recognized as having the strongest beast of their generation.
For some reason, Rocky wouldn't have to fight until the final match against the winner of the first-year students. It looked like a gift to him, since he wouldn't lose pathetically in the first round in front of younger students.
…Or maybe it was just another way to humiliate him.
If he lost in the first round, no one would remember him. But if he lost in the final, everyone would carve his pathetic defeat into their memory.
He was a joke passed down through every generation of first-year students.
"A public humiliation."
He watched the gilded bull, three meters tall. Its long horns, plated with gold, pierced through every enemy.
Each line of its muscles flickered with a red aura.
Level 1, Species Rank: Aberrant.
He knew its master.
Alex Stephens—the little brother of Shawn Stephens, one of the traitors of the Branch Clan.
"Hahaha! Kill him for me!" Alex shouted crazily as he commanded his beast.
The gilded bull charged forward, its sharp horns aiming straight for the gigantic crab.
"I—I surrender! Please spare my beast!" a girl screamed in panic.
But no matter how she begged, the gilded bull still spun the gigantic crab on its horns, then slammed it violently into the arena wall.
Two claws were shattered under that gilded bull's power.
The crab looked at its master with lifeless eyes before passing out. Maybe it was dead.
"N-No…" The girl burst into sobs and lunged toward her beast in desperation. But then, the referee slowly appeared behind the crab and spoke.
"Don't worry, your beast is still fine. I've already deflected the last blow from the gilded bull."
Then he glared at Alex.
"Are you crazy?! You almost killed a beast. If I hadn't stepped in and blocked your beast, you'd already be expelled under the academy's rules."
Alex smirked and shrugged.
"Well, I knew you'd save that weak beast, right?"
The referee scowled, then let out a sigh. He tried to hide his aching, trembling hand behind his back.
He groaned in pain, shocked by the gilded bull's power. True, he had a level-20- beast, but a mere Level-1 beast had already injured him, even if only slightly.
Sure enough, a beast with a red aura(rank Aberrant), let Alex pull off something impossible.
"He's a monster."
Just like that, it was Rocky's turn.
As expected, laughter mixed with chatter spread through the arena stands when they saw Rocky's black aura.
"A beast from the black zone." A second-year student frowned.
"Tch, he must be really desperate to pick that beast." Another student sighed.
…
Alex smirked and rubbed his beast as it built up speed, ready to ram its enemy.
"Don't worry. We'll crush that bastard."
Suddenly, a voice rang out from the stands, drawing both Alex's and Rocky's attention.
"Humiliate him. If you can do that, a big reward will be waiting for you." Jeff crossed his legs, lifting his chin with his right fist.
He looked at Rocky with pure mockery and contempt, even rubbing his beast-hide coat to provoke him.
"It's your beast."
Rocky's face twisted into darkness, his eyes filling with killing intent. He gave his command.
"Let's go, Bobby."
Bobby nodded and leaped from Rocky's shoulder.
He enlarged himself to four meters tall, his gigantic body covered in thick fur, like an anicent gigantic beast standing before its enemy.
Every muscle stood out clearly, visible to everyone in the stands. But that wasn't all—Bobby quickly activated his skill.
Soon, pure black armor materialized over his body, from head to toe. His dark eyes gleamed with death behind the helmet's visor as he swung his longsword a few times.
The atmosphere grew heavy and suffocating.
Everyone in the stands swallowed in shock.
"W-What is that? I thought a beast with Species Rank Calamity was supposed to be hard to develop and create skills?"
"I don't know… maybe that skill was already there from the beginning… he's just lucky."
…
Alex's face twisted in disbelief, but he quickly forced himself to regain confidence.
"It's just an empty shell. Kill that fur ape for me."